Part I: Childhood Memories
by ADD1CTED
Summary: Tetsumari struggles in her childhood to fit in, but her reputation as a "Cursed Child" leaves the village scared of her. However when she meets Granny, Temari, Kankurou, & Gaara, she realizes that she has a reason to exist & that reason is to protect them
1. Epilogue The Cursed Child

The Cursed Child  
Epilogue

"Push, keep pushing! I can see your baby coming out," the doctor yelled as his nurses wipes the sweat off of his forehead. The lady that was giving birth struggled to push her baby out. Her husband, who was holding her hand, tried to comfort her.

"It's alright honey; the baby's almost coming out," he said, stroking his wife's long beautiful black hair. After what seems to be nearly hours of struggling and pushing, their beautiful daughter finally came out. The nurse took their daughter away to clean her, while the mother and father began to talk.

"Mother, Father, I heard the baby had finally came out," a young man around the age of 18 came walking into the room. He had long burgundy colored hair that was pulled back and tied into a ponytail like his father and dark blue eyes like his mother. He was wearing a lighter burgundy colored shirt than his hair over a dark blue long sleeved shirt. He was also wearing some slightly tight black pants. The forehead protector on his forehead indicated that he was from the Hidden Sand Village. The young man came and sat down by his father and exhausted mother who was still laying on the futon.

"Hey Moukoshi, you now have a baby sister," the mother joyously pronounced to her burgundy haired son; she gave him a warm smile. Just then, a nurse came in with the baby and handed it gently to the mother.

"What a beautiful little girl, she looks as beautiful as her mother," the father commented looking at his daughter.

"She's lovely, look at her beautiful eyes; they're purple!" the mother pointed out.

"What are you going to name her mother?" Moukoshi questioned.

"Hm, what about Tetsumari? Tetsumari Tora of the Tora Clan (Tiger Clan)" Suddenly, the mother was beginning to feel uneasy and vomited out blood."

"Moukoshi! Call the doctors!" the father panicked.

"Yes father!" Moukoshi ran out of the room to look for the doctor, "Hey, Doctor! There's something wrong with my mother, she gagged out blood!"

The doctor was shocked and yelled for all the nurses to come back into the room; they hurried as quickly as possible. The doctor frantically did a fast check on the mother's pulse.

"Hurry, quick! Her pulse is slowing down," the nurse ran around trying to help the doctor and Moukoshi's mother as best as they could. When the doctor checked for her pulse again, he heard it slowly stopping.

"Everyone, stop she's… dead…" he looked down, disappointed that he couldn't save her.

"What!" the husband yelled, "She can't be!"

"I'm terribly sorry…" the doctor said still disappointed, "We all tried really hard… I guess giving birth to the baby was all too much for her."

"It's okay," Moukoshi replied sadly. He tried to calm down his upset father.

"This can't be, she can't be… why?" his father kept repeating those words while holding his head tightly. This was all too much for him that it made him tear up.

"Father…" Moukoshi felt bad for him, but didn't know what to say. He looked at his mother who was dead, then his baby sister, Tetsumari. Several minutes past and Moukoshi could hear his father trying to stop crying.

"Let's go, Moukoshi…" His father stood up wiping the tears that were rolling down his face.

"Huh?" Moukoshi was getting confused.

"Let's go Moukoshi!" he repeated louder this time. It startled Moukoshi, the nurses, and the doctor. Moukoshi hurried quickly to not piss his dad off anymore than he was and picked up Tetsumari.

"Leave her here!" The father yelled again.

"What?!" they were all confused now, "Why?"

"I don't want her…"

"…but father, we can't leave her!"

"Yes, we can! Now let's go!" The doctor then walked towards the upset father and tried to settle things down with him. Finally, the father gave in and unhappily left for home with Moukoshi and the new born, Tetsumari.

"What was that about earlier?" Moukoshi asked.

"That damn child is cursed!" his dad rudely stated pointing at the sleeping Tetsumari.

"Don't say such things!"

"She is, your mother died giving birth to that evil child."

"It doesn't mean she's cursed! Things like that happen from time to time."

"Well it's not just that, Look at her…" Moukoshi looked down at his baby sister who was now awake and crying from the loud conversation between the two men.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Look at her eyes and can you now feel that strange chakra flow in her?"

"Well… uh…"

"Yeah, exactly! She's different from us; everyone in this clan has normal colored eyes, but look at hers! It's purple! And that chakra flow, I don't know what to say about it, it's different from any other I have ever felt."

Moukoshi was quiet as his dad kept going on about Tetsumari until they finally reached home.

"Alright, I hold you responsible of that child." Moukoshi's dad declared and walked towards his room.

"What?" Moukoshi asked lost.

"I want nothing to do with her." He slammed his bedroom door as he said that.

"Okay…" Moukoshi walked into his own room and set up a place for Tetsumari to slumber. When he was done, he placed the baby into her new futon than fell asleep on his own futon.

It was early the next morning when Moukoshi woke up to a cry from his baby sister.

"Wow, you're up early," he said with a bright smile. He held Tetsumari up in his hands and tried to calm her down. When she had finally calmed down, Moukoshi went to wash up and get dress.

"Moukoshi!" his father yelled from outside of his room.

"Yes?" Moukoshi answered opening the door for his father.

"I'm leaving on a mission and won't be back till night, unless it drags on until tomorrow. Watch the house and make dinner in case I get home sooner."

"Okay."

"Bye!" Moukoshi watched as his father went off.

"I guess it's just me and you today, let's get something to eat." Moukoshi smiled at Tetsumari and carried her to the kitchen. He got her some milk and some food for himself.

During the afternoon, Moukoshi decided to go see the Tora Clan's tiger specialist to have a check up on what tiger Tetsumari possessed.

There are 5 elements that each person, with their tiger, possesses. The order is fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water, and then it goes back and repeats itself. Each is weaker than the one before them, but stronger than the next. All ninjas have their own elements and are usually figured out with a card that tells you which element you are. However, for the Tora Clan, it's slightly a bit different.

Tora Clan has 2 _Kekkei Genkai_ (Bloodline Limits). One of them is called the _Henkei no Jutsu_ (Transforming Beast) which lets the user work two in one with the tiger they possess; they turn into a tiger and doubles your power. The tiger within you determines what element you are and so to find out, you would need to get a check up from a tiger specialist. It's important to find out as soon as possible because it'll be easier for you to train and control your chakra. Using it wrongly, will waste a lot of chakra, however if you train properly and use it the correct way, you wouldn't lose as much chakra.

Since the Tora Clan's techniques are mainly taijutsus, you would need to know a few ninjutsus to balance it out. However, to perform your element technique, you would have to get use to their condition. It's best if you can do hand to hand combat in the condition of the element/area that you possess, but it would also be easier to know what element you can control to do ninjutsus without using up too much chakra on what you can't do. For example, if you're a fire element and you're trying to do a wind element technique, you would have to mold a lot more chakra for wind element techniques, while for fire element techniques you can just easily mold a little chakra.

If your element is fire, you would use a bit of the heat energy with a bit of your own chakra and get use to very heated areas by doing taijutsu and learn to work with fire element techniques. You can't do fire element techniques without any form of heat, sun rays are acceptable.

For wind elements, you would use the wind energy along with a bit of your chakra. Then, get use to balancing in windy areas and going along with the wind. After you have mastered that, you should start practicing by doing taijutsu and learning wind element techniques. Wind element techniques require wind, even the slightest of wind could help.

If your element is lightning, you could use any form of light along with a bit of your own chakra and perform lightning element techniques. Best way you could train is learn to move quickly and doing taijutsu quickly like lightning. Once you have learned to do those, learn how to do lightning element techniques. However, light or lightning is required to do lightning element techniques.

Earth element requires you to use the energy from the earth and a bit of your chakra. Earth element techniques are usually from sand, which means they require sand or dirt to use. A way to train is to have perfect control on any earth surface, like smooth or bumpy, so you wouldn't lose your balance and fall. Then, you start training with taijutsu and learn to work with earth element techniques.

For water elements, you would use water with a bit for your chakra to make water element techniques. You would need any form of liquid, mainly water. A good way to train is to perfect the water walking technique and have good balance. Then you would move onto taijutsu and learn to do water element techniques.

The other bloodline limit is called _Katsugan_ (Keen Tiger Eyes) which changes your eyes goldish yellow like real tiger eyes. It gives you the ability to see through quick movement. With this technique, you would be able to catch your "prey" easier if they try to get away. Also, you would be able to see clearly in the darkness like how most felines could.

Moukoshi brought some extra blankets to cover Tetsumari before they left because it was very windy. It's just the kind of weather you'll always experience at the Hidden Sand Village. Moukoshi settled off on his destination to the specialist's shop with Tetsumari in his hands. It was quite a walk, but it was good to have some fresh air. When Moukoshi reached the small shop, he knocked on the door.

"Hello there, Moukoshi! How's our hero doing?" the voice came from an elderly lady; she opened the door for her guest. Moukoshi was considered a hero in his clan because he had saved them once from almost being extinct. It started when a war had broke out against a rival clan that caught them off guard. Being the talented and quick strategist he is, Moukoshi developed a plan to counter attack the enemies.

"Hey! I'm doing well." Moukoshi answered back politely with a smile.

"Come in and have a seat," the lady showed him to a chair. She was the Tora Clan's tiger Specialist.

"Oh, this beautiful little girl must be Tetsumari," the lady said after noticing the tiny body held in Moukoshi's arms.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Everyone heard about the news yesterday…"

"Oh… including the thing about my mother?"

"Yes, I'm sorry about your lost dear."

"It's okay."

"Well then, you must have come here to get Tetsumari checked up correct?"

"Yep."

"Okay, follow me," The lady led Moukoshi into a dark room with a futon in the middle," place Tetsumari there then step back while I perform the procedure."

"Alright," Moukoshi did as he was told and watched from afar to see what the lady was going to do. He saw her doing a couple of hand seals and soon the room lit up. There was blue chakra surrounding the small area everywhere.

"That's amazing," Moukoshi thought while dazing at the sight. Suddenly, there was a large flow of different chakra surrounding the room everywhere.

"What the?! What is this? This must be Tetsumari, but how?!" Moukoshi was getting confused and a bit afraid. Everything in the room began to turn back to normal. The old lady began to pant really hard while Tetsumari was crying.

"Are you okay?" Moukoshi said running up to the worn-out lady, "What happened there?!"

"I…I… Don't… Know…" she stuttered back. Her voice was shaky; Moukoshi could see the petrified look in her eyes.

"What is it?" he asked trying to get her to answer, but she was still too shook up about what happened.

"She… possesses… a… white tiger, but that's… not what I'm mainly… worried about, there is… something else about her…"

"Something else? What is it? Is it bad?"

"The white tiger… is rare… it has been centuries… since the last one… was possessed."

"Centuries?" Moukoshi wondered in his head.

"… I don't know how… she could've possessed it. Well… you've got to be heading off now…" The aged lady said and nearly tossed Tetsumari to Moukoshi.

"But wait! You said there was something else that was worrying you. What is it?"

"It's…nothing… you should be going now…" the old lady pushed Moukoshi and Tetsumari outside the door and slammed it shut.

"That girl's chakra is amazing, I never felt anything like it before, but there's something that worries me…she not only possess a white tiger, she also possesses the spirit of the _Bijū no Fuushuku_ (Tailed Beast Maiden); a spirit that shares a bond with all tailed beast and is able to control them." The elderly lady pondered after she had shoved them out.

"What could it have been that disturbed her so much," Moukoshi wondered and looked down at Tetsumari.


	2. Chapter 1 Tora Clan's Massacre

Tora Clan's Massacre  
Chapter 1

On the night after the incident with the Tora Clan's tiger specialist, Moukoshi struggled to sleep, but the words of the specialist continued to run through his mind.

_[flashback]_

"She… possesses… a… white tiger, but that's… not what I'm mainly… worried about, there is… something else about her…"

"Something else? What is it? Is it bad?"

"The white tiger… is rare… it has been centuries… since the last one… was possessed."

[end flashback]  


"What could it have been?" Moukoshi thought furiously. He rolled to his side and found himself starting at the little baby resting quietly. Moukoshi sighed and closed his eyes trying to sleep, but couldn't. Fed up, Moukoshi got off of bed, got dress, then ran out the door.

"I'm going to find out what is going on!" he said under his breath and walked towards the old lady's shop. When he arrived, he knocked on the door loudly, he saw the lady checking who it was.

"I need to ask you a few questions," Moukoshi plead, "…about Tetsumari."

"I told you, it's nothing!" she replied annoyed yet a little scared.

"Please, you've got to tell me; I can't rest without knowing what's wrong with my baby sister."

"Fine, but I'm giving you only five minutes." She mumbled and opened the door for him. They both went to sit down around the kitchen table drinking tea.

"Please tell me what you felt besides the white tiger that she possesses."

"Okay… during the procedure, I had found her tiger spirit easily, but then I felt something else. I decided to dig in deeper to see what it was." The specialist took a deep breath, "Not only does she possess a white tiger, she possesses the spirit of the _Bijū no Fuushuku_ in other words, the Tailed-Beast Maiden."

"Tailed-Beast Maiden?"

"Yes, the Tailed-Beast Maiden shares a special bond with all the Tailed-Beast Demon and is also able to control them and their movements."

"I don't get it, what's so bad about it?"

"She could easily choose to use that power for good or evil. If she chooses to use it for good, she can help and control the demons from destroying and doing bad things. But if she uses it for evil, she could turn the demons against everyone and kill us."

"She wouldn't do that!"

"Yes, but also if she were to be held in the wrong hands, let's say someone that craves for power, then they could either take the spirit of the maiden out, killing her, or trick her into thinking that they are good then use her powers to control the demons. Also, this is the spirit that caused your mother to die as a sacrifice."

"What! That can't be true…"

"When one of those tailed beast demon or the maiden's spirit gets sealed in someone, a sacrifice is needed to get the job done. For the maiden's spirit though, it chooses the person it wants to be in and does it unwillingly. But that isn't what you must worry about, soon, people are going to start going after her. I advise you to keep her close to you at all times or you won't ever see the face of your precious baby sister anymore. Now leave." The old lady warned as she stood up and walked him to the door, "Be careful."

"Thanks…" Moukoshi said politely and walked home.

[Five Years Later]

"Tetsumari, Let's rest for a bit," a handsome young man with long burgundy hair that was tied back into a pony sat down on a small bench.

"But Moukoshi!" a young little girl with beautiful long, light purple hair and shiny purple eyes whined to her older brother.

"It's getting late; I promise I'll train you tomorrow."

"Fine," Tetsumari replied and gathered up her bow and arrows. She walked over to Moukoshi and they both began to head back home after their long day training together. Moukoshi was teaching her how to use the bow and arrows because it was one of her favorite weapon to use.

"You've improved a lot in a week, you should be proud of yourself," Moukoshi commented his little sister.

"Year, I'm tying really hard! I want to be as good as you Moukoshi!" Tetsumari gave her brother a big smile. They were walking in town now and stopped in front of a small shop.

"Wait here real quick, " Moukoshi said and walked into the shop.

"Okay." After a couple minutes, her brother came out with two ice creams in each hand.

"Here's for your hard work!" Moukoshi exclaimed and handed Tetsumari one ice cream.

"Thanks!" They both ate it while walking home talking and laughing.

Early the next morning, Tetsumari, set out to go train by herself. On the way, she bumped into a girl around her age that was walking with her mom.

"Hey!" Tetsumari said putting her best smile on, "I'm sorry about that. I was sort of in a…"

"It's Tetsumari!" the mother said cutting her off; she was frightened when she looked at her, "Come on honey, let's go."

The mother nearly ran away with her daughter close to her.

"Wait…" I was sorry…" Tetsumari looked down and walked slowly away while people began to whisper to others about her.

"It's that cursed girl, " One man whispered to his friends.

"Monster!" a little boy yelled.

"Stop it she'll curse us all!" the little boy's mother said. Everyone always seems to have something against Tetsumari. They were always either treating her bad and calling her names or frightened of her. All she could do was ignore it. When Tetsumari finally arrived at the training area, she went straight to training to release all her anger and sadness with every hit she threw. She wasn't aware that someone had come and was watching her, waiting for the right time to come out. When Tetsumari was too tired to move, she sat down to rest.

"I thought you would be here, " It was her brother who was the one spying on her.

"Hey Moukoshi…" Tetsumari was a bit upset still.

"What's wrong?"

"Moukoshi…"

"Yeah?"

"Why does everyone… treat me so… differently…?"

"You're just special…" her brother tried to think of the right words to say to her, "They just don't know or see you the way I do."

"So if they just got to know me more, they'll like me?" Tetsumari was getting a bit happier.

"Yeah, who wouldn't right?" Moukoshi smiled, "But it's best not to worry about what others think of you too much because you should be happy with who you are."

"Oh, okay brother, thanks," Tetsumari hugged him. He returned the hug with a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay let's start training now, I'll teach you a couple of new moves." Moukoshi pat his little sister's head.

"Alright!" Tetsumari wasn't sad anymore. Moukoshi taught Tetsumari how to aim and take control of her arrows better. The two siblings began to train extra hard together. However, they were interrupted by a man yelling out Moukoshi's name.

"Moukoshi!" it was a yell from their father. He came running to their training area panting heavily.

"What's wrong?" Moukoshi walked over to his crouching father.

"Hurry! We have to get back to the clan quick! There's war going on against some unknown enemy!"

"What?!" Moukoshi and Tetsumari yelled confused. Moukoshi turned to look at his little sister who was shaking unbelievably and grabbed her.

"Come on Tetsumari!" They ran back to their can clan and saw people fighting everywhere. Moukoshi carried Tetsumari on his back and knocked out any enemy that came close to them. Soon, they stopped in front of their house.

"Get inside and hide Tetsumari!"

"But!"

"Just do it! Don't come out until I tell you to!"

"Okay." Tetsumari did as her brother told her and looked for a good place to hide. It was all horrifying for Tetsumari to hear all the yelling and screaming coming from everyone. Soon after a long time, it was getting quiet. She decided it was safe to go out. Tetsumari searched around to see if her brother had came back yet, but the house was empty. She then checked outside, but the sight she saw was unbelievable.

"What… What happened to everyone?" Tetsumari said shocked and scared at the same time. There were dead people lying on the ground everywhere.

"Tetsumari, watch out!" it was Moukoshi. She turned around to see an enemy going at her with kunais and her brother who was running over to her. Tetsumari turned to run, but her legs felt like they had tons of brick tied to them. She closed her eyes knowing that this will be the end of her, but Moukoshi had come just in time to pull her away quickly. Unfortunately, he didn't make it that far until he was hit by more kunais that were thrown towards them.

"Moukoshi!" Tetsumari began to cry.

"Watch out!" Moukoshi yelled again, the guy was about to attack again, but Moukoshi performed some seals that made sand appear from the ground around them. The shield reflected the kunais and killed the guy. When it had finished its job, it dropped back down to the ground along with Moukoshi.

"Moukoshi…" Tetsumari sobbed even more.

"Tetsumari…"I don't have much time, " He pulled something out from his pocket then pulled out his sister's hand. Moukoshi placed a necklace with a big tiger eye stone hanging in the middle and a few smaller ones on the string where it was supposed to go around the neck in her hands and closed it.

"What is this?"

"It's called the tiger eye necklace; it's able to make copies of itself."

"Huh? How?"

"No one is sure exactly how, we just know it copies itself only when it feels that the owner is having feelings towards another. Like for instant, mother to child, friend to friend, and lover to lover. It could also be sibling to sibling like right now; older brother to younger sister."

"Oh…" Tetsumari puts the necklace on, "Thanks big brother."

Suddenly another enemy popped out. Moukoshi used his last few strength and stood up. Then, he pulled out a katana and ran towards the enemy, at the same time, the enemy was charging at him. They both stabbed each other with their weapons.

"Run Tetsumari!" Moukoshi yelled trying to keep his katana still in the guy's body and also trying to bear with the pain of the weapon in his own body.

"But, Moukoshi!"

"Run now! Listen to me! Run far away or they'll get you!" Tetsumari looked at her brother one last time and finally ran.

"You're not getting away!" the guy cried and pulled away from Moukoshi.

"No you aren't!" Moukoshi yelled at the guy and trapped him with one of his technique, "What do you want with my sister?!"

"It was for an order," The guy replied.

"Order? From who?"

"Orochimaru."

"What? That traitor! What does he want with her?"

"He wants her power!"

"Why? What have I done wrong to him!"

"Nothing. You did nothing wrong, she just has amazing power that Orochimaru craves for."

"That bastard! Too bad he won't get her!"

"You may have saved your clan once, young hero, but the second will never come again!"

"I fought for my clan with pride and honor back then and I'm willing to do so again, even if it cost me my life. However, I won't die until I kill you!"

"Stubborn boy, you will not kill me! Today will mark the end of you, your clan, and your sister!"

"I won't let you!" Moukoshi and the enemy fought each other with all the energy that had left.

"I don't know how much longer I can last," Moukoshi thought, "I'll have to use THAT technique, there's no other choice."

"This guy's really strong, no wonder Orochimaru took him on as his subordinate back then," The enemy thought, "I'll have to use that move Orochimaru taught me."

Moukoshi and the enemy jumped back away from each other.

"This is the end for you!" they both yelled and charged at each other. They had moved all their chakra to one spot in their body, their hands.

_"Forbidden Technique. Chakra Rage stage 5, SEAL!"_ They both yelled and threw a punch at each other. An amazing amount of chakra flowed out and formed a seal all over their bodies. A huge blinding explosion surrounded them.

"This is it for you and me!" Moukoshi said as he slowly died along with the enemy, "Take care baby sister, I'll be watching over you…"


	3. Chapter 2 Love From Another

Love from Another  
Chapter 2

"What was that strong feeling I felt back there?" Tetsumari said when she had stopped running; she panted heavily and sighed, "Moukoshi…"

She collapsed on the floor and threw punches at the ground several times with her small fists.

"I couldn't even do anything!" she yelled crying at the same time, "I'm so useless!"

"What's wrong child?" a very old lady appeared next to her that startled her. She was wearing a plain white kimono and her gray hair was tied back into a bun.

"Who are you?" Tetsumari asked politely looking at her.

"You can call me Granny," she answered with the kindest smile ever.

"Oh, okay hey Granny, I'm Tetsumari Tora." Tetsumari began to feel a little conformable around this stranger. Granny walked over to Tetsumari and wiped the tears that were rolling down her face with the long sleeves of her kimono.

"There, much better, you look a lot prettier when you're not crying. You don't want wrinkles when you're still young do you?" Granny teased looking at her dried face now, "So what's wrong? A young girl like you shouldn't be out here alone."

Tetsumari was a bit calmer and told Granny about what had just happened earlier with full details. She told Granny about her brother, the tiger eye necklace, and the two guys that were after her. Tetsumari ended the story with a long sigh.

"That is terrible, I'm sorry." Granny had a shocked expression on her face, "So you don't have anywhere to stay now?"

"No… not anymore…I have a feeling that everything blew up because just when I stopped running, I felt something weird. It was like an explosion full of chakra." Tetsumari hung her head down low.

"Well then, would you like to come live with me?"

"Can I really?" Tetsumari was surprised and happy, "But wait, what about your family?"

"I live alone; all my children and grandchildren had all grown up already."

"But do you mind?"

"Of course not, besides it would be nice to have company. Watching over you would be like watching over my own kids."

"Okay then, thanks for taking me in."

"You're welcome. Well come along, it will be very cold once it gets dark." The little five years old followed after Granny. They had a long conversation while walking with each other home. After awhile, they finally reached Tetsumari's new home. It was a nice size house; not too small and not too big, it was perfect for about two people to live in.

"Here we are! I'll fix you something to eat." Granny pulled her into the kitchen and sat her down in a seat near the table.

"Oh it's okay Granny, I don't want to be a burden. I'm not really that hungry."

"Don't be silly, I don't mine. You must be tired from everything that went on today" Granny walked around the kitchen gathering food to cook up something to eat, "Besides, you need some meat on your bones."

Granny cooked up some food that smelled really delicious. Tetsumari couldn't wait to eat whatever Granny was cooking because whatever it is, the taste must be even better than the smell. When Granny was finished she placed a variety of food down on to the table.

"Here, try it, " Granny said giving Tetsumari a bowl of rice with a few meat in it, "And don't be shy to ask for more."

Tetsumari took a small bite out of it and immediately fell in love.

"Mmm! This is the best! I've never tasted anything this great before!" Tetsumari gobbled up the rest of the food in her bowl

"Thanks," Granny was eating the food she cooked too.

"Most of the time, my brother would cook and to tell you the truth, he's not really good at it, but I don't like hurting his feelings." Tetsumari joked around. They both end up laughing and eating some more until they were too full to move.

As weeks passes by, Granny and Tetsumari's relationship grew stronger and stronger. Granny was like the mother Tetsumari never had. She took care of her, loved her, and taught her many things, including techniques. Granny was an excellent medical ninja who was admired by many. She had taught Tetsumari a few basic healing techniques which Tetsumari practiced everyday along with a few things she remembered her brother teaching her. She even tried to make up a few of her own moves based off the one she knew already.

So far she knew how to do both her clan's _Kekkei Genkei_ (Bloodline Limit); _Katsugan_ (Keen Tiger Eyes) and _Henkei no Jutsu_ (Transforming beast Technique, but haven't perfected it yet. Tetsumari had also almost perfected _Shōsen Jutsu_ (Mystical Palm Technique), a healing technique that Granny had taught her and some taijutsu with some ninjutsu she made up. She could also use her arrows to aim at targets perfectly without messing up now too.

A year had already passed by now and Tetsumari is now six. One day, Granny and her were out buying some food for tomorrow night's dinner. While strolling around with Granny, Tetsumari overheard some kids talking about academy school.

"I'm so excited, academy school is starting pretty soon!" a young girl cheered.

"Yeah I'm going to be the best shinobi there will ever be," a confident little boy said posing.

"Oh please! I will!" another kid yelled.

"Hm? Academy school? What's that?" Tetsumari wondered while watching the kids talk some more about it. When Granny and Tetsumari were done grocery shopping and was heading home, Tetsumari asked Granny about what academy school was.

"Granny what's academy school? I heard kids talking about it a lot earlier. I also recall my older brother telling me about it, but it was just about his experience mainly."

"Oh, well academy school is a school that prepares you for the life of the ninja. You learn a few basic techniques there and about the 'way of the ninja'. It basically prepares you before you become a genin rank ninja, then from there you move onto higher ranks and higher ranks." Granny explained more about academy school until they reached home.

"Wow that's amazing! I wish I could go there!" Tetsumari was overwhelmed and was daydreaming about how she would become a ninja while helping Granny put the groceries away.

"Well it's getting late, you should go to bed," Granny said when they were done putting the food away.

"Alright Granny, "Tetsumari gave Granny a hug with a kiss on the check. She was about to go to her room until Granny had stopped her.

"Tetsumari?" Granny called out.

"Yes Granny?"

"Out of curiosity, why do you hug me than give me a kiss on the cheek?"

"Oh," Tetsumari was a bit sad, but tried to smile, "Ever since I was little, my older brother would always give me a hug and kiss on the forehead instead, that's all. It just kind of reminds me of him."

"Oh, I see" Granny looked at Tetsumari's sad eyes, "Okay you may go to bed now."

"Goodnight, sweet dreams Granny."

"You too…" Tetsumari walked into her room playing back memories of her brother, "Moukoshi."

Tetsumari lied down on her futon and fell asleep.

_[Dream]_

"Tetsumari," a cheery voice called out. Tetsumari looked around to see who was calling her.

"Huh? Who is it?" She asked still looking around.

"You don't remember me?"

"Where are you?"

"Turn around baby sister."

"Baby sister?" Tetsumari turned around to see her brother looking at her, "Moukoshi! I missed you so much!"

She ran up to him and gave him a big hug with happy tears rolling down from her eyes.

"You've changed a lot Tetsumari, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there for you, but I'm glad you're in the right hands. Tell Granny I said thanks." Moukoshi looked down on his little sister.

"But you can watch out for me now, right?" Tetsumari was puzzled.

"I don't have much time left; please take care of yourself…"

"What do you mean? Don't leave Moukoshi! Please don't leave me again!" Tetsumari cried.

[End Dream]  


Tetsumari woke up from her dream shocked and sweating all over.

"It was just a dream? It all felt so real…" she signed sadly and lay back down to sleep.


	4. Chapter 3 Academy School

Academy School  
Chapter 3

A month had gone by quickly with Tetsumari working hard training either with Granny or by herself. She had improved a lot in the time being. Tetsumari had dedicated her free time training until she couldn't move a single muscle in her body anymore. Even, if she was still sore the next morning; she would keep training from morning till night. Being so exhausted however, she would knock out easily each night when she reaches her room.

"Tetsumari, wake up!" it was granny who had came into her room and woke her up from her deep slumber.

"Granny, what time is it. I'm tired!" Tetsumari whined.

"Get up! I got a surprise!"

"Fine, fine."

"Meet me in the kitchen."

"Alright," Tetsumari got off of her futon and went to wash up. Then she walked to the kitchen to meet up with Granny.

"Morning Granny! What were you going to show me?" Tetsumari whined again, still tired.

"Close your eyes!" Tetsumari closed her eyes shut. She heard a few ruffling noises.

"Okay, open them!" Granny said a minute later. Tetsumari opened her eyes and saw Granny holding up a beautiful short burgundy kimono.

"It's beautiful, Granny!" Tetsumari awed, "I've never seen anything like that!"

"It's for you! I bought it yesterday. I thought you would look lovely in it. Burgundy suits you, you know?" Granny held the kimono up to Tetsumari.

"Thanks so much, Granny! But what is it for?"

"Well, before I bought this, I enrolled you into academy school. After doing so, I decided I should get you an outfit suited for you when you become a shinobi."

"Academy school?!"

"Yes go try it on, academy school will start pretty soon, don't want to be late on your first day of school now."

"Okay thanks again, Granny!" Tetsumari ran in her room excitedly and changed into the gorgeous burgundy kimono. She wore black shorts under her kimono and added a large black ribbon bow around her waist, some bandages on her right thigh, and long black gloves. Tetsumari also wore some long boots that went up to her knees. She tied her long light purple hair loosely and put it to one side of her shoulder. Lastly, she placed her barrel of arrows and her bow around her back. When she finished, she walked back out to the kitchen.

"More beautiful on you then I thought," Granny commented.

"Thanks, I added a few things to it, "Tetsumari blushed.

"Okay let's go, I'll walk you there, "Granny gave her a bag with food in it for lunch and walked with her to school. When they arrived there, Tetsumari saw a lot of kids around her age talking and scattering around excitedly.

"Wow it's so packed!" Tetsumari said a little shy.

"Yeah, well have fun! Don't get to class late!"

"Okay, thanks Granny, bye," Tetsumari walked to her classroom smiling.

It was very noisy in the classroom and their sensei was having a hard time calming everyone down. Tetsumari took this time to observe, something she loved to do because that's how she learns new things. She observed around the room and all the new faces. Finally, when everyone was settled, their sensei introduced him to all the young kids; his name was Karuke-sensei. When he was finished, he started calling out roll. Tetsumari observed all kids some more as he did so.

"Temari!" he called out.

"Here!" she was the girl that sat next to Tetsumari. Temari looked pretty; she had blonde ponytails and looked tough.

"Kankurou!"

"Here!" He was a guy that had purple face paint on his face. Kankurou looked like he was a funny guy to be around with and didn't look as tough as Temari did.

"Gaara!"

"Hmm that's a strange name," Tetsumari thought, she looked to see who it was.

"Here!" He was a cute red head little boy who was sitting by himself in the front.  
Gaara looked shy and a bit lonely; he had dark black rings around his eyes also. As Karuke-sensei went down the list, Tetsumari tried to remember everyone by their faces and unique features about them.

"Tetsumari Tora!" Karuke-sensei called out, but she didn't notice him calling her, "Tetsumari Tora?"

"Oh here!" she called out embarrassed. Suddenly, everyone was beginning to whisper and talk about her.

"I've heard about her! Didn't her clan die out last year?" one girl said to her friend that was sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I heard that too from my parents, she was the only one that survived. I also heard she was called the _'Cursed Child'_ in her clan." The girl said back to her friend. Tetsumari looked down on her desk. While Karuke-sensei continue with roll, Tetsumari didn't bother listening or observing the few last kids names and faces that were being called. Tetsumari was getting kind of sad and regret going to academy school.

"Oh hey, Tetsumari, right?" Temari asked looking at her.

"Oh, yeah," Tetsumari replied.

"You shouldn't be sad, don't listen to what those kids say." Temari tried to cheer her up.

"Thanks," Tetsumari was happy again. Not one other kid was ever this nice to her before.

"Do you know anyone here? If not you can hang out with me."

"Okay, sounds good!"

"Shh!" Karuke-sensei said towards Temari and Tetsumari.

"Sorry, go on," Temari smirked.

"Okay, thank you," he answered back and went back to introductions.

"I'll talk to you more at lunch," Temari whispered.

"Okay," Tetsumari whispered back. Hours had passed by and the bell for break time/lunch had finally rung.

"Alright! Time to eat!" it was the guy with the face paint, Kankurou. He was walking towards the two girls.

"You fatass," Temari teased.

"Shut up!" Kankurou snapped back, he then turned around and saw Tetsumari, "Oh hey!"

"Hi," Tetsumari felt a bit shy, she wasn't use to meeting new people, "I'm Tetsumari Tora."

"Hey I'm…"

"…The most annoying guy ever!" Temari cut him off.

"Hey! Stop that!" he yelled at her. Tetsumari laughed as the two were arguing with each other. Temari hit him hard on the head once which made him shut up holding his head about to cry.

"Anyways," Temari turned her attention to Tetsumari, "This is actually my annoying little brother, Kankurou."

"Geez! Why'd you have to hit me so hard!" he whined.

"Want me to give you a matching one and hit you again?" she questioned, "If you do, keep whining like that!"

"Sorry, " he said giving her a weak smile.

"Hah!" she smiled in victory and looked at Tetsumari, "You've got to be tough so people won't run all over you like my little brother here."

"Thanks for the advice, "Tetsumari walked over to Kankurou, "Let me see your head."

She saw Kankurou hesitating for awhile, but realized Tetsumari was just trying to help him out. Temari and Kankurou watched as she did some seals.

"_Shōsen Jutsu_ (Mystical Palm Technique)" She said while she moved her glowing hands on Kankurou's wound.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt anymore," he awed, "Thanks Tetsumari."

"You're welcome."

"Alright now let's go eat before break time is over," Temari walked out the classroom with the two others following along behind. All three of them enjoyed their lunch and talked a lot about each other.

"Where did you learn that technique?" Temari asked.

"Oh from Granny, she's a medical ninja."

"Oh, I've heard of her, " Kankurou joined in, "She's one of the best!"

They continued talking some more until the bell rang. The rest of the day was pretty boring because Karuke-sensei talked a lot. When the last bell had finally rung and the first day of school ended, Tetsumari said bye to her two new friends, Temari and Kankurou. Then she went straight to the front to see Granny already waiting for her there.

"Hey Granny!" she said and did the normal hug and kiss on the cheek routine.

"Hey dear," she said with her always so warm and happy smile. They began to head for home.

"How was academy school Tetsumari?"

"It was boring because Karuke-sensei, my sensei, talked a whole lot, but some things that he mentioned seem interesting. Oh yeah and I met this girl named Temari, she's pretty nice and so was her brother Kankurou. They love to argue with each other." Tetsumari laughed thinking about the incident at lunch. During the whole walk home, Tetsumari chatted as her Granny listened carefully.

"Sounds great, I'm glad you had fun. Well go get changed and washed up. I'll make something to eat." Granny said when they reached home.

"Okay, " Tetsumari obeyed and went into her room to change out of the kimono that Granny gave her and went to the bathroom to wash up. When she walked back into her room to change into her regular clothes, Tetsumari saw the tiger eye necklace that was laying on her futon.

"Oh yeah!" she thought, "I forgot to give Granny this present this morning."  
Tetsumari changed quickly and grabbed the necklace that was lying on her pillow to take to the kitchen.

"Hey Granny, I have a gift for you!"

"Really? What is it?" she placed down the food on the table and sat herself down.

"Here, surprise!" Tetsumari held out the copy of her tiger eye necklace to Granny.

"It's lovely; this must have been the copy of your own tiger eye necklace correct? I remember you telling me about it once."

"Yep," Tetsumari watched as Granny put it on.

"Thanks, you're so sweet," she said, "Okay, let's eat now!"

They both began to eat while talking and laughing about the random things they usually talk about.


	5. Chapter 4 The Uchiha Boy

The Uchiha Boy  
Chapter 4

A week of academy school and training had passed by. Everyday would be the same routine, wake up, school, home, eat, train, wash up, and then sleep. Today however was going to be different, it was finally a weekend! Tetsumari has been worn out from academy school and was overwhelmed that she finally had a break.

"What a week!" Tetsumari said tiredly. Granny walked by her room and laughed.

"Tired of academy school already? It has only been a week!" she teased while Tetsumari smiled at her.

"No, it's just been a long week." She said back.

"Okay then, go rest," Granny walked to her room. Tetsumari closed her eyes and just as she was about to fall asleep, someone knocked at her door. She got up annoyed and walked over to open the door.

"Hey," It was an ANBU to Tetsumari's surprise.

"Oh hi," Tetsumari replied politely. She had learned about ANBU rank ninja in academy school during the week, but didn't expect to see one so suddenly.

"Is Granny home at the moment?"

"Oh yes, follow me," Tetsumari led the ANBU to the front of Granny's room.

"Granny, there's someone here to see you," She said while knocking on her door lightly.

"Coming right out," she replied and opened the door. When Granny came out, she was also surprised with the ANBU's presence.

"You are needed for a mission from the Kazekage," the ANBU stated to Granny.

"Hm, has been awhile since he called me for a mission," Granny said back.

"Yeah, I'll escort you to him safely."

"Alright, but would it be okay if I take Tetsumari here with me, I don't want to leave her here alone."

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt."

"Okay, thanks. Let me go grab my stuff," The ANBU and Tetsumari waited as Granny changed and picked up her medical supplies. When she was finished, they set off to the Kazekage right away.

Tetsumari has never seen the Kazekage before so this was going to be the first time. When they came by a building, they slowed down to walk in some hall than turned into a room. A man was sitting in a seat that looked pretty mean. Tetsumari realized this must have been the Kazekage. He had brown spiky hair and was wearing a long, white coat.

"Kazekage, she's here," the ANBU announced and stepped away to the side.

"Thanks," the Kazekage looked at Tetsumari than Granny and began talking about the mission, "It seems that Fugaku of the Uchiha Clan in Konoha had came down with an unknown sickness. The medical-nin at Konoha wasn't able to figure out what it was. They called for a request here, at the Hidden Sand Village, and asked if any medical-nin could come and help cure him. Would you like anyone else to come for help?"

"No, it's okay. I'll just be taking along Tetsumari if that's fine with you." The Kazekage looked at Tetsumari again. The way he looked at her made her feel uneasy so she stepped back a little.

"Okay then, the ANBU that came to get you before will be assisting you to Konoha for this mission."

"Alright, thank you," Granny turned around and walked out the door with Tetsumari and the ANBU following along.

"Aw man, I just got out of school a couple hours ago and didn't even get to rest yet! I hope it's not a long way from here," Tetsumari thought, "Oh well, I'll take this chance to observe new things. Besides, Konoha sounds like an interesting place."

Right after Tetsumari, Granny, and the ANBU left the Kazekage's office; they headed to Konoha. With a lot of help from the ANBU, they got there by nightfall. They all arrived at the Konoha gates, the shinobi guard came to check them and read the scroll which had their mission assigned on it.

The guard showed them to where the Uchiha Clan was held and where they could find Fugaku Uchiha. When his job was done, the guard left the three of them knocking on the door. Their house looked really big and nice, Tetsumari looked around happy to see something other than sand and a whole lot of wind. The weather at Konoha felt just perfect even at night. As they waited, they heard a women coming to the door, they were soon greeted by a beautiful young woman.

"Oh hey come in, we were expecting you, my husband's in the other room." It was a lady who went by the name of Mikoto Uchiha. Mikoto greeted the three and led them into her house. The ANBU disappeared somewhere so it was just Granny and Tetsumari. Mikoto made some drinks and snacks for her guest. Granny began checking on Fugaku while Tetsumari sat watching Granny and trying to learn a couple new things. After awhile, Tetsumari heard a voice of a little boy. She turned around to get a look at him.

"Mom, I'm home! Big brother is too!" It was obviously that it was the young woman's son. He had dark blue hair with cute looking eyes. He was also wearing a shirt with a fan on the back that represented his clan. His brother was standing next to him; they looked fairly similar.

"Hey you two! I made you some snacks. Oh and by the way, we have some guests over in the next room. Why don't you two go greet them?"

"Okay," they both said respectively to their mother. Tetsumari turned around quickly when she saw that they were walking towards the room she was in. The little boy walked right up to Tetsumari while she turned bright red.

"Hey, I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he introduced himself, "And this is my older brother, Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke pointed to the guy next to him.

"Hey, I'm Tetsumari Tora." She gave them a shy smile, "Nice to meet you two."

"You too," Itachi said. He seemed like a serious guy, but sounded nice to her. Itachi and Sasuke went over to Granny and greeted them with a polite bow.

"Well, I'm a bit tired. I'll be in my room Sasuke and again, nice to meet you Tetsumari." Itachi walked over to his room while Tetsumari and Sasuke talked.

"So Tetsumari," Sasuke started out, "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she had a better look at Sasuke now since he was sitting across from her now, "But you look tired!"

"Yeah, my older brother and I were training, well more like him teaching me new things."

"That sounds cool; I'd like to watch sometimes."

"Maybe you can watch tomorrow."

"I'll try if Granny lets me."

"Okay" Sasuke and Tetsumari spend the rest of the night talking about random things and being shinobi's. Soon it was getting late; Mikoto invited Granny and Tetsumari to stay in the guest room.

"You can stay here until you get the job done so you won't have to stay at those smelly old hotels," she joked.

"Thank you," Granny replied. Granny and Tetsumari walked into the room and laid down on their futon. Both being so exhausted quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Tetsumari was awakened by a soft knock on the door.  
"Who is it?" Tetsumari said yawning.

"It's Sasuke," he whispered, trying not to be rude and wake Granny up.

"Oh, I'll be right out," Tetsumari got up and stepped outside. She closed the door quietly behind her so it wouldn't disturb Granny.

"Hey Sasuke," she said excitedly.

"Hey remember how you wanted to go watch my brother while he trained?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I asked him if you could come along he was okay with it."

"Really?!"

"Yeah go get changed, we're going to be leaving right now."

"Oh okay hold on; I'm going to leave a note for Granny too." Tetsumari walked back in slowly and changed. Before she left, she wrote a note to Granny and left it on her futon.

"Okay! Ready!" Tetsumari came back out. Mikoto was already awake and made snacks for all three of them; Itachi, Sasuke, and Tetsumari, to take onto the walk. The walk was going to be a half an hour walk, but it went by fast. All of them, especially Sasuke and Tetsumari, were talking the whole time. Before they knew it, they all had finally reached their destination. Itachi went straight to training for awhile as Sasuke and Tetsumari watched in amazement.

"Wow, that's so amazing!" Tetsumari awed.

"Yeah! Can you teach us big brother!" Sasuke said next.

"Maybe next time, I have a big mission today, sorry."

"Aww," Sasuke and Itachi talked a bit and said bye. Sasuke wanted to stay back and practice with Tetsumari.

"Be careful you two and come home on time!" Itachi made sure they had heard him or his mother was going to scowl him for leaving them there alone."

"Okay," Tetsumari and Sasuke said in unison. They both trained together until they got tired and sat down to eat the snack Mikoto packed for them.

"You and your brother… remind me of how my brother and I use to be…" Tetsumari said it with a sign.

"Huh? How?" Sasuke was confused.

"He use to always take me out to train now and then and teach me new things… we were really close." She sighed again, "I miss him…"

"What happened to him?"

"He died... along with my whole clan," Tetsumari was shedding a few tears, "That's why I live with Granny now."

Sasuke came over and gave her a hug.

"Don't worry, I'll always be here if you need me," he smiled at her. Tetsumari felt better and changed the subject to something happier to talk about. As it was getting late, they began to walk back to Sasuke's house while talking some more. When they arrived, Sasuke's father was there to greet them.

"Father, you got better!" Sasuke said.

"Yeah," he smiled. They walked inside the house and saw Mikoto and Granny.  
"Thanks a lot for curing my husband," Mikoto said to Granny, "You're truly amazing."

"No problem," They all settled down for a small dinner together and talked.

"Well we got to be going now," Granny said when everyone was done eating.

"Okay be sure to come visit sometimes," it was Fugaku speaking.

"Okay, we will." Before Granny and Tetsumari left, Sasuke gave Tetsumari a hug while the elders smiled. They both broke the hug with a blush.

"Bye Tetsumari, I'll miss you!"

"Bye, I will too!" Just then, the ANBU arrive just on time and then they were off. Tetsumari waved one last time to Sasuke and his family. She knew one day he would become a great shinobi and hope she'll see him again.


	6. Chapter 5 A New Friend

A New Friend  
Chapter 5

Tetsumari woke up the next day after saying goodbye to Sasuke. She had one more day left until she had to go back to academy school. Tetsumari stayed in bed for awhile thinking about the day she spent with Sasuke and his brother, Itachi. They had reminded her of her brother and her. She sighed and finally decided to get off her futon and wash up.

"Ow," Tetsumari winced in pain. She remembered her heavy training with Sasuke the day before. She nearly limped to the bathroom when she was trying to wash up and then nearly died when she was trying to change. When Tetsumari was done, she limped again to the kitchen.

"Morning Granny," Tetsumari said as she slowly made her way to the kitchen where Granny was. She was already setting up breakfast.

"Hey dear, you finally woke up!" Granny joked.

"Was I sleeping for that long?" Tetsumari replied confused.

"You don't remember?"

"No?" Granny giggled like a little girl.

"You knocked out last night halfway through the trip home."

"What! Really?"

"Yeah, the ANBU had to carry you home." Tetsumari blushed.

"Oh I didn't know. I guess I was really tired yesterday, I still feel a bit sore."

"Oh really, I tried waking you up earlier, but you wouldn't even move!"

"Really it was probably because I was training a lot yesterday with Sasuke."

"Oh I see, here, I'll heal it for you," Granny walked over to Tetsumari and sat down by her. She began to do some hand seals and placed her hands where Tetsumari was sore. It was the same technique Tetsumari used to heal Kankurou's head.

"Much better!" Tetsumari said moving her arms around, "Thanks Granny."

"Anytime, well eat before the food gets cold." They both ate and fell into those small conversations they always had. Tetsumari told Granny about what she did with Sasuke and the training they had. Granny always loved listening to her talk; she was so lively. When they were done eating breakfast. Tetsumari helped with cleaning the dishes.

"What are you doing today, Tetsumari?"

"I don't know I guess training some more."

"Why don't you go out, you shouldn't stay cooped up in the house or around here all the time and you shouldn't exhaust yourself with training too much either."

"Will you be okay though Granny?"

"Of course I will, I'm not that old," Granny teased.

"Hm, Okay then. I'll take a walk around for some fresh air."

"Okay, remember to bring a coat; it's always so cold and windy around here and don't be home too late!" Tetsumari finished washing the dishes then went to hug her Granny and kiss her goodbye.

"Okay, I'm going now. Bye Granny!" Tetsumari grabbed a white coat to cover herself with and went outside. She walked around the village observing all the people, shops, or just about anything she could see.

As she was walking towards academy school, she spotted a little boy around her age swinging by himself with his teddy bear. Tetsumari got a little closer, but not so close that he would see her. She hid in the shadows of the buildings to observe him. After observing closely, Tetsumari realized that he was the red head boy in her class, Gaara; the boy who sat all by himself most of the time in the front. She began to doze off staring at him and his eyes.

"His eyes…" she thought, "They're so… lonely… I wonder why he doesn't hang out with anyone. I have heard stuff about him, but all that couldn't have been true. There's no way!"

Tetsumari dozed off again until suddenly she was brought back from a familiar voice that was calling out her name.

"Tetsumari? Hello?" It was her best friend, Temari and her brother, Kankurou.

"Oh hey," Tetsumari felt embarrassed.

"What were you doing out her all by yourself?" Temari asked.

"Oh… I was... uh… I was…"she stuttered tremendously.

"Watching someone?" Kankurou ended for her with a big smile.

"Yeah," Tetsumari was turning a bit red then pointed to Gaara, "I was looking at that boy over there."

"Gaara?" they both asked puzzled.

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"Of course we do, it's our youngest brother," Temari stated.

"Really? Why is he always by himself than?"

"Everyone's scared of him cause of the Shukaku." Temari explained.

"Shukaku?"

"Yeah," Kankurou began to talk now, "It protects him like an automatic shield."

"It doesn't sound that bad, why is everyone scared of it?"

"Well, it's because Gaara doesn't have full control of it so it gets out of hand sometimes and attack others even if Gaara didn't want it to." Kankurou explained it a bit more and about how Gaara wasn't allowed to sleep.

"No wonder… he must feel so sad and lonely…"

"Yeah…" Temari and Kankurou sighed.

"So, he has never slept at all?"

"Not since that monster was sealed in him," Temari looked over at her brother on the swing.

"Oh…" Tetsumari felt sorry for him.

"Our dad wanted to seal it in him to use him as a weapon for this village," Kankurou mentioned.

"Huh? What! That's so cruel! Who's your father?"

"The Forth Kazekage." Tetsumari thought back couple days ago when she last saw him. It was the day that Granny was sent on a mission. Tetsumari remembered the look he gave her which sent chills down her back when she thought about it. Tetsumari could still feel his cold eyes watching her.

"Well have you eaten yet Tetsumari?" Kankurou asked, changing the subject.

"Not since this morning," It was already late afternoon.

"We were about to go eat, want to come also?"

"Sure! Is Gaara coming too?" Temari and Kankurou looked at each other.

"Well, we don't normally go anywhere with him," Temari looked down feeling a bit ashamed.

"Why not? Just for today?"

"Oh okay then, I'll go get him," Kankurou said and walked over to his brother.

"I wouldn't get myself caught up with Gaara if I were you." Temari warned when Kankurou walked away.

"Why?"

"You could get seriously hurt and I care about you like the sister I never had so please be careful around him."

"Oh, thanks Temari," Just then Kankurou came back with Gaara. He looked happy that he was finally being invited to go somewhere.

"Gaara this is Tetsumari, Tetsumari this is Gaara," Kankurou introduced. Gaara was hesitating whether or not he should shake hands with her, fearing that she'll get scared and run away. But when Tetsumari gave him a breath taking smile, all his fears seem to ease away

"Hi Gaara," she said putting her hand out.

"Hi," he replied shaking her hands and holding it for awhile longer. He has never really felt the touch of another person often, so it was pleasing to him. After introductions, they went on their way to go eat at a normal restaurant. Everyone ordered what they wanted and talked as they waited for their food to be served.

Tetsumari looked over at Gaara; he had the biggest and warmest smile she has ever seen besides Granny's. His eyes didn't look so sad or lonely, but Tetsumari knew deep inside those eyes were darkness. They were finally given their food after a couple minutes. As they ate their food, there were people whispering and staring at them.

"Hey look its Gaara of the Desert mommy!" a little boy cried out pointing at Gaara.

"Shh, don't point or talk too loud! He's going to kill you, " the mom said eyeing their table. Gaara sunk down in his seat, Tetsumari knew that he was trying to hold himself back from letting the Shukaku take over. It seemed to have worked because Gaara sat back up again and ate his food. It was strange because usually Tetsumari would be the one being talked about. When they were done eating, Temari paid for everyone as a treat.

"Tetsumari, want to take home something for Granny? I'll pay for it." Temari offered.

"Are you sure? You don't have to," Tetsumari hesitated.

"Don't worry, just order."

"Okay thanks so much," Tetsumari ordered some extra food and when it was done cooking they all left. By the time they all left, it was pretty dark.

"Well I got to be going now, thanks for lunch," Tetsumari said and hugged Temari, Kankurou, and even Gaara as he blushed. He was also looking pretty shocked because he probably hasn't gotten a hug from anyone before.

"Okay, have a safe walk home," Temari and Kankurou said, "Bye!"

"Bye," Tetsumari replied.

"Oh wait," Gaara said just when Tetsumari was about to turn around leave.

"Yes?" she said surprise.

"Uhm… I'll walk… you home…" he said stuttering and looking around, fidgeting. Tetsumari smiled while Temari and Kankurou looked at each other surprised.

"Sure! Thanks Gaara," he smiled and walked towards Tetsumari, "Okay bye Temari, Kankurou."

"Bye, see you tomorrow, have fun you two," They replied as they both walked off in opposite directions. It was quiet for awhile between Tetsumari and Gaara.

"So… Why did you want to walk me home?" Tetsumari asked Gaara breaking the silence.

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Well…" Gaara looked down, "Why aren't you scared of me like others are?"

"Why would I? There's nothing bad about you," Tetsumari giggled and turned to look at Gaara straight in the eye.

"But... the sand… the Shukaku."

"You're different from others, but I like it, you remind me of…me…" she sighed and looked away thinking about how everyone in her clan acted the same way they did to Gaara here in this village. She thought about her dad, how he would say she was cursed because she was different, but her brother loved her because she was different. In some way, she knew how Gaara felt and she just wanted to be that person, like her brother was to her, to help him.

"What's wrong?" Gaara saw that Tetsumari was quiet.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about some old things..."

"You're the first person that ever made me feel this way. I don't know what it is, but you make warm inside…" Gaara blushed as he blurted that out while Tetsumari smiled.

"Well I'm home now, thanks for walking me home Gaara."

"No problem, well bye," he gave Tetsumari that warming smile again. Tetsumari couldn't help but go up to him and hug him than kiss him on the forehead.

"Bye," Tetsumari waved and walked into her house. She saw Gaara blushing as he walked away.


	7. Chapter 6 Love and Pain

Love and Pain  
Chapter 6

"Tetsumari, wake up!" Granny called out as she pushed Tetsumari slightly to wake her up, "You're going to be late for academy school today!"

"Okay Granny, I'm up!" Tetsumari said tiredly.

"Get washed up and dressed, I'll get breakfast started," Granny left the room. Tetsumari lay in her bed for a couple more minutes stretching. When she was satisfied, she got off and went to wash up and change.

"Morning Granny," Tetsumari walked into the kitchen and helped Granny fix up breakfast.

"Hey dear, " she replied. They sat down to eat and talk when they finished making breakfast. Tetsumari told Granny about Gaara and what she did yesterday. Soon they were finished eating, Tetsumari gave Granny a hug and kiss on the check just right before she left for school.

"Bye Granny!" she yelled out.

"Bye!" Tetsumari ran to school because she was going to be late. She made it right on time to class. Tetsumari saw Gaara sitting at the same spot he always did in the front, she walked over to him.

"Hey Gaara," Gaara looked up from his desk surprised.

"Hi Tetsumari," he smiled.

"Can I sit here?" Tetsumari asked pointing at the seat next to him.

"Yeah, of course," everyone watched as Tetsumari took the seat next to Gaara.

"Look, it's the two monster sitting next to each other," a kid cried out to his group of friends who were now laughing hysterically.

"Knock it out!" it was Temari standing up for her younger brother and Tetsumari. The group of kids were startled and scurried to their seats quickly. Just as they did, Karuke-sensei walked in.

"Good morning class," he started out.

"Good morning sensei," everyone said back in unison. Karuke-sensei than went on with his lesson for the day. When lunch/break time finally came by, they were dismissed.

"Gaara can I see you for a minute," Karuke-sensei called for Gaara before he walked out with Tetsumari and his two older siblings.

"Oh, okay," Gaara stopped and looked at Tetsumari.

"I'll see you later Gaara," she whispered.

"Okay, bye," he said back and walked towards Karuke-sensei. Temari Kankurou, and Tetsumari all walked outside together to eat their lunch as Gaara stayed back with his sensei.

"Thanks Temari, for standing up for me and Gaara earlier," Tetsumari thanked while they were eating lunch.

"No problem," she replied, "So what's with you and Gaara now? What did you guys do last night?"

"Yeah!" Kankurou jumped in on the conversation.

"Oh it was nothing really," she blushed, "He just walked me home and that was it."

"Sure!" Temari and Kankurou teased. Tetsumari didn't want to keep things away from them, especially Temari; her best friend, but it didn't seem like they cared much about it anyways.

"Don't worry, you don't have to tell us, " Temari joked, "I see that it's personal."

"No! It's nothing personal!" Tetsumari argued back, "We just walked and talked, that's it."

When Tetsumari was done eating, she went to throw her trash away.

"Hey, I'm going to play soccer okay?" Tetsumari said.

"Alright, see you later," Temari waved at her.

"Bye," Kankurou waved too. Tetsumari left to where all the other kids were and asked if she could play with them too.

"Hah monster! Who said you could play soccer with us!" a boy yelled at her.

"Yeah you monster!" Kids began to keep saying things and making fun of her. Tetsumari tried to hold back her tears. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew by and Temari was standing next to her.

"You punks! I told you guys to knock it out already. Say sorry to her now, or else." Temari threat.

"So-sor-sorry," they all stuttered.

"Okay, now you little brats better let her play with you."

"Yes ma'm," they all said and went back to what they were doing.

"Thanks again Temari."

"No problem, now go along and play safely" she smirked and walked away. Tetsumari headed towards the kids that were now playing soccer again. They let her play because they were horrified of Temari, but that still didn't stop them from pushing her around. They also rarely gave her the ball. This one time when Tetsumari finally had the ball, a girl came over and pushed her down leaving Tetsumari with scratches all over her legs. Everyone laughed and then continue playing. Suddenly, one of the boys kicked it high up on one of the cliffs.

"Aww, how are we going to get it now?" a couple of kids whined. Just then, Tetsumari saw Gaara walking over with the ball in his hand. She knew that he must have used his sand to get the ball down for them. Tetsumari got up and went over to Gaara.  
"Thanks Gaara," she smiled, Gaara did too.

"It's… Gaara of the desert!" a kid yelled.

"Run!" the girl that pushed Tetsumari earlier cried out.

"Wait!" Gaara yelled back a little hurt, "I don't want to be alone!"

Suddenly sand started going after the kids. The sand grabbed the girl that told everyone to run and a few other kids. The girl began to scream frantically as the sand pulled her in along with the others. Tetsumari's leg shook terrible, she couldn't even move. She tried to sum up all her strength and ran to Gaara yelling for him to stop.

"Stop it Gaara!" she screamed at the top of her lungs hugging him nearly crying, but as she did, Gaara's uncle, Yashamaru, came and stopped the sand from doing any further damage.

"Gaara calm down, please" he begged. Gaara looked around at the damage he did than looked at Tetsumari who just let go of him. He was so afraid that he ran away.

"Wait Gaara!" Tetsumari called after him, but it was too late, he was already gone. Tetsumari turned around to look at Yashamaru.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh…yeah…" she replied. Yashamaru nodded and went to help the injured kids.

Gaara didn't show up for class after break since the whole incident. Tetsumari grew worried so after school she went to look for him nearly the whole day.

Soon, Tetsumari saw Gaara walk into a building so she decided to go after him. He turned into one of the rooms down the hall as Tetsumari followed close behind quietly. She spied on him when he got inside to see what he was doing.

Tetsumari noticed he was staring at a picture of a beautiful woman and holding a kunai in his small hand.

"What's he going to do with that?" she thought curiously. Then suddenly, he was holding it up about to stab it in his hand.

"Don't do it Gaara!" she yelled from her hiding spot but it was too late. Tetsumari was expecting him to bleed when she opened her eyes, but instead she saw sand shielding his hand from the kunai.

"It's no use," he said, "The sand interferes."

"Gaara," they both turned around to see his uncle again.

"Yashamaru?" Gaara said confused. Tetsumari kept quiet as they talked.

"I'm here to be your care taker. I was ordered by the Kazekage." Yashamaru looked over at Tetsumari with a smile. She smiled back at him, but continued to stay quiet not wanting to interfere. Yashamaru talked a bit with Gaara about being his care-taker, but stopped when Gaara noticed the wounds and bandages on Yashamaru from blocking the sand earlier.

"Yashamaru, I'm sorry," Gaara said sadly looking down.

"Oh this, it's nothing," he replied.

"Do wounds hurt?" Gaara questioned.

"Well this hurts just a little, but it'll heal."

"What does pain feel like? I've never been hurt before so I was wondering how it felt." Tetsumari and Yashamaru were both shocked with his question.

Yashamaru tried to explain it to Gaara the best he could, but Gaara still seemed a bit sad. Their conversation kept going on about pain for awhile. His uncle tried to explain that people hurt or get hurt by others a lot in a life time and it was hard to hate someone when Gaara asked if he hated him. Gaara got happier after he said that.

"I think I understand what hurting is now," Gaara said.

"Really?" his uncle replied.

"Maybe I'm injured like everyone else. I always get hurt here." Gaara placed his hands over his heart. Yashamaru and Tetsumari were surprised with his answer.

"I'm not bleeding… but my chest really hurts," Gaara said squeezing where his hand was. Tetsumari stared at him and couldn't help but feel the same way. Yashamaru then explained to Gaara about the pain from inside your heart which is difficult to heal; a wound of the heart. He then explained how there's ointment to heal it and how sometimes it will never heal.

"But there's one thing that could heal the pain of the heart," Yashamaru continues.

"What is it?" Gaara asked eagerly.

"It's a complicated medicine and you can only get it from another person, like Tetsumari for example."

Gaara and Tetsumari locked eyes again then looked at Yashamaru waiting for him to tell them.

"What is it? How can I heal it?" Gaara repeated.

"The only thing that could heal a wound of the heart would be… Love," They all looked over to the picture of the women.

"Gaara," Tetsumari said, they turned to look at her," Who is she?"

"It's his mom, which is my sister," Yashamaru answered for Gaara.

"Wait, but how do I get it?" Gaara asked still wondering about what love meant.

"Gaara, you already have received it. Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important to you… it's expressed by caring and protecting that person. Just like my sister, I believed that she had always loved you and that she's the sand that protects you out of love. She isn't the only one that loves you Gaara; you're important and close to me as well."

"Me too," Tetsumari said smiling at Gaara. He grew happy and gave them both a warm smile. They talked for a bit longer until Tetsumari realized she had to go home.

"Oh no, Granny must be really worried right now. I must go home, Bye Yashamaru, bye Gaara see you tomorrow!" Tetsumari hugged Gaara and gave him a kiss on the forehead than waved goodbye to Yashamaru.

"Bye Tetsumari," they both replied. Tetsumari hurried out the door and out of the building. She sighed to herself as she slowed down.

"He's just like me…" she thought as the conversation with Yashamaru replayed in her head.


	8. Chapter 7 Family Clash

Family Clash  
Chapter 7

As Tetsumari walked home, she spotted Gaara running up to a house with a brown bag in his hand. She hid herself and watched to see what he was doing. It looked like Gaara was hesitating to knock on the door, but he eventually did. Tetsumari recognized the person that opened the door, it was the girl that pushed her down and told everyone to run from Gaara.

"Hey…" Gaara said with a shaky voice, "I brought you some ointment for your wounds."

He put a smile on his face so she wouldn't get scared, but it didn't work, she was still horrified.

"Go away!" she slammed the door, "Monster!"

Gaara was shocked, he dropped his bag on the ground than turned the opposite way to run while he cried. As he ran away quickly, Tetsumari walked over to the bag he dropped earlier and looked inside.

"Ointment?" she thought. A flashback of the time when Yashamaru explained to Gaara and her about pain popped up in her head. Tetsumari felt sorry for Gaara, he was just trying to help. He had always tried the best to help someone with his best smile on, but the kind of thanks he gets back always tore his heart apart. Tetsumari held the bag tighter and decided to go look for Gaara. While Tetsumari was looking around, she spotted a masked ninja sitting on the roof watching someone. Suddenly he jumped off and pulled out a couple of kunais in each hand. Tetsumari began to run because her conscience urged her to for some strange reason.

When she got closer, she realized that the ninja was aiming right for Gaara so she ran faster. Tetsumari was a second late when she got there. Some of the kunais had cut her, but the rest went past her towards Gaara. Tetsumari fell back a little from the hits of the kunais. Before she knew it though, sand starting rising up and blocked all the attacks from the kunais. Gaara turned around startled to see the injured Tetsumari than over to the masked guy. He trembled and went insane; his sand began to get out of control and attacked the guy. Gaara was mixed with anger, sadness, and confusion as the Shukaku began to take over him. The sand wrapped around the masked ninja that was on the floor and crushed him.

"Gaara!" Tetsumari yelled as loud as she could," Stop it; don't let it take over you!"

Gaara struggled, but he finally stopped and fell down to his knees. He started to tear up a bit while the sand loosened up.

"Tetsumari…," he said softly, "It hurts…"

"Don't worry Gaara, I'm here," Tetsumari comforted. He was squeezing his chest again. Tetsumari was sad to see him like this and went over to hug and kiss him on the forehead like the other days. This made him feel a bit better and relaxed. The sand finally went away slowly revealing the attacker who was badly injured now. The two kids both looked over frightened that he might get them. Gaara than stared at the guy's hand, one of his fingers was wrapped around with bandages. The little red head walked over to masked ninja slowly along with Tetsumari leaping from the pain of her injuries behind him. Gaara put his hand over the guy's masked and pulled it off and to their surprise; it was Yashamaru, Gaara's uncle.

"Yashamaru…" Gaara said crying. He continued crying and wondering why Yashamaru was trying to hit him with the kunais.

"Gaara…" Yashamaru whispered softly.

"Why'd you do this, Yashamaru?"

"It was an order, I was sent by the Kazekage to assassinate you…"

"So that means you just did it unwillingly because he ordered you to, right Yashamaru?"

"No, he gave me a choice…"

"Huh? What do you mean…"

"Gaara… I've always hated you… hate you for taking my beloved sister away from me," Yashamaru explained, "My sister sacrificed her life for this village and died cursing it."

Yashamaru explained more about how Gaara's father wanted to seal the Shukaku in him and about Gaara's mother. Gaara cried loudly as Yashamaru explained to him more about everything that was going on.

"So this is my last time… Please die…" Yashamaru opened his jacket and revealed explosive tags that were all over his body. Gaara and Tetsumari were scared and held each other tightly closing their eyes while the explosive tag blew up killing Yashamaru. When the smoke cleared away, Gaara pulled away from Tetsumari, she was still too scared to open her eyes, but she could still hear Gaara crying crazily. He began to hold his head and screamed. Tetsumari finally opened her eyes and looked over at Gaara who was going insane.

"Gaara," Tetsumari yelled frightened from his screaming," Please stop it!"

She began to cry on Gaara as he was still screaming. Tetsumari took a peek to look at what was going and saw that the sand was all going to his forehead where she usually kissed him. She backed away as Gaara slowly stopped screaming. When the process was done, the sand cleared away. Tetsumari could see the kanji word for "love" written in red on his forehead. Gaara stood up with the coldest eyes Tetsumari has ever seen, they looked like they were glowing in the dark night. Tetsumari began to cry even more out of sadness, but Gaara didn't even notice.

"Gaara…" she said softly. Suddenly, Gaara fell down on his knees and than his stomach, he was unconscious. Tetsumari went over to Gaara to try and wake him up, but he wouldn't move.

"Oh no!" She yelled, "I have to get you to Granny right away."

Tetsumari carried Gaara up and put one of his arms over her shoulder with all her strength, she struggled while taking him to her house.

"Granny!" Tetsumari yelled almost out of breath. She was knocking on the door loudly and could hear Granny walking over to open it.

"Tetsumari! I was worried, where were you?!" Granny scolded.

"I'm sorry, but can you please help my friend," Granny looked over and recognized Gaara right away, but unlike others, she didn't care much if he had the Shukaku sealed in him.

"Oh dear, hurry, take him in your room," Granny helped Tetsumari carry Gaara in her room and placed him on her futon. Granny took charge and did some hand seals. She put her glowing hands over Gaara's forehead.

"Get me a tub of water and small towels, " Granny ordered. Tetsumari quickly got up and did what Granny said. After an hour of hard work, Granny said he was going to be alright, he just needed some rest.

"Thanks so much Granny."

"No problem," they both walked to the kitchen and sat down to rest.

"Granny I'm sorry for making you worry…" Tetsumari looked down.

"It's okay," Granny noticed Tetsumari's wounds, she walked over to Tetsumari with ointment and bandages, "Sit still and let me heal those wounds."

"Ow, that hurts!" Tetsumari said as Granny held her to keep her still, "And it stings a lot!"

"I know, but just try to take it. Otherwise, it'll take longer to heal or even get worse." Tetsumari tried to stay still as she could while Granny covered up the last cut.

"Thanks again Granny, you should go rest now," Tetsumari mentioned.

"No problem, I will. Good night you should sleep soon too."

"Yes Granny," Granny walked towards her room while Tetsumari walked towards hers. When Tetsumari got to her room, she sat down by Gaara who was peaceful sleeping on her futon. She smiled at the sign. Tetsumari then changed the towel on his forehead to a new one.

"He knows so much pain…" She thought silently while leaning on the wall next to Gaara.

"His mother died when Gaara was born just like mine and his father didn't even care about him, he even wanted to kill him! Poor Gaara, I wish I could help him somehow…" Tetsumari yawned and began to doze off thinking about Gaara, her older brother, Moukoshi, and her dreadful past.

"We're alike, Gaara and I… but he never had a single person to care about him like I did. I had Moukoshi, Granny, Temari, and Kankurou. The person that he thought cared about him ended up wanting to kill him. Maybe I could help him with something, " Tetsumari yawned again and before she knew it, she fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 8 Midnight Talks

Midnight Talks  
Chapter 8

Tetsumari had a pretty good sleep until she was awoken by something moving. She opened her eyes startled, but it was just Gaara who had got up finally.

"Gaara?" she said.

"Tetsumari? Where am I? What happened?" Gaara asked.

"You don't remember?" Gaara nodded his head no, "You fell unconscious so I brought you to my house, Granny cured you a bit."

"Oh…" Gaara looked away.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, okay… are you hungry?"

"Just a bit."

"Okay I'll look for something," Tetsumari said and walked to the kitchen to get some bread. When she came back, Gaara was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Tetsumari thought, she walked around her house looking for him than went on the roof.

"Hey Gaara," Tetsumari said when she spotted him.

"Hey, how'd you know I was up here?"

"Easy, I always go here when I want to think about things." Gaara smiled at her and motioned for her to come sit down by him. Tetsumari handed him a loaf of bread as she sat down, she had one for herself also to snack on.

"You have the same eyes as me..." Gaara stated, "Eyes that know the same pain I go through."

"What do you mean…" Tetsumari was confused, but it was all true.

"I can see it deep inside your eyes every time I look at them; it's full of anger, hate, and sadness."

"Oh…" Tetsumari didn't know what to say. Sadness started taking over her when she thought about what Gaara said.

"Why aren't you scared of me really?" he asked her.

"Silly Gaara, " Tetsumari smiled without looking at him," I told you, it's because you're different from others. Do you remember?"

"Of course, but that's just part of the reason. What's the true reason you're not scared of me," He was getting serious and was looking at her, but Tetsumari still kept her eyes away from his and was quiet.

"Last time I asked you, you seemed to be thinking of something else that was bothering you. So why is it that you aren't scared of me?"

"Because… I know how a wound of the heart feels, I know how it is not to have a mom because she died giving birth to me and a dad that hated me and didn't care about me at all. The only person that ever worried about me and took care of me when I was little died and it was all my fault!" Tetsumari raised her voice louder from anger while tears rolled down her face, "he died… because… I couldn't do anything… and I hated myself for it. Everyone in my clan hated me too, they all said I was cursed and I think I really am…"

"Tetsumari…" Gaara felt ashamed for making her relive her past.

"That's why… that's why I chose to become a ninja so I could actually do something and be someone, so I can protect everyone I care about…" Tetsumari sighed and wiped her tears away, "…like you Gaara, I want to protect you…"

"Tetsumari, you won't have to protect me because I will protect you."

Tetsumari's wet and teary eyes met Gaara's eyes.

"Thanks Gaara," she leaned over to give him a hug and a kiss on his forehead where it now says "Love"; Gaara blushed bright red.

"I feel warm inside," Gaara said.

"I do too," Tetsumari leaned her head on Gaara's shoulder again, but was interrupted when her necklace grew bright. She pulled her necklace out and took it off. Gaara and her looked as it glowed the beautiful colors of the tiger eye. When it was finished, there were two tiger eye necklace.

"What's that?" Gaara asked amazed.

"It's a copy of my tiger eye necklace."

"Huh? A copy?"

"It copies itself when the owner is starting to have feelings for someone else. My older brother, Moukoshi, gave me a copy of his before he died. Mine had copied once before for Granny.

"Oh."

"I guess it's for you then Gaara." Tetsumari handed him the necklace.

"Thanks," Gaara said and put it around his neck. Tetsumari than leaned on his shoulder again and fell asleep quickly.

"Tetsumari?" Gaara said, but she was asleep already. He smiled at her than carried her back into her room to lay her on her futon. Gaara sat down next to her like how she was doing earlier when he was unconscious. He closed his eyes to think about things.

As morning came by, Gaara woke Tetsumari up for school so they wouldn't be late.

"Gaara? You're here still?" she asked.

"Yeah, I didn't feel like going home."

"Oh it's okay you can stay here as long as you like."

"Thanks."

"Well let me get ready real quick." Tetsumari ran in the bathroom to wash up and change, she came back out after a couple minutes.

"Okay done, come on! I want to properly introduce you to Granny!" Tetsumari said excitedly, "You'll love her! She's the best!"

"Okay," Gaara followed after her to the kitchen. When they got to the kitchen, Tetsumari introduced Gaara and Granny. They seemed to get along with each other very well.

"Thanks for helping me yesterday," Gaara said politely.

"No, it's okay. Don't worry." They all ate and talked. Gaara told Granny about himself a bit.

"I like this boy Tetsumari," Granny whispered, "He's good for you."

"Granny!" she said back embarrassed if he heard.


	10. Chapter 9 Cured

Cured  
Chapter 9

Tetsumari and Gaara sat down next to each other again when they arrived to class. They were pretty early that day so they just waited till class to start with each other.

"Gaara," Tetsumari said.

"Yeah?" He replied back.

"Why don't you come each lunch with Temari, Kankurou, and I today."

"Oh… I'm going to be busy, but if I'm finished with what I'm doing sooner, I'll go see you at lunch." He gave her a small smile, but it didn't satisfy her. It seemed that he was still shaken up with the incident about Yashamaru.

"Are you okay Gaara?"

"Yeah… Why do you ask?"

"Because… you've been acting quite different since the whole incident about Yashamaru," Gaara looked away.

"Oh don't worry…" Tetsumari wanted to ask him more, but class was beginning to start.

"Good morning everyone," Karuke-sensei began. He went on with that day's long and boring lesson. Tetsumari barely even talked with Gaara that time, she just stared at him. She was thinking how he was acting strangely and also about the incident too. She couldn't find out what it was, but he was just different. Gaara didn't smile at her much; it was like he was getting distant from her in a strange way. As class went by, lunch finally started. Gaara left and didn't even say bye to Tetsumari so she just went to eat with Temari and Kankurou.

"Tetsumari, what is seriously going on with you and my brother," Temari joked, "You guys are always with each other since you met him. Are you guys dating or something?"

"What! No!" Tetsumari replied embarrassed.

"Uh hm"

"We saw you staring at him all day during class," Kankurou teased.

"You stalkers!" they laughed. The two siblings kept teasing Tetsumari the whole time until lunch was over. They all headed to class and took their seats. When Tetsumari took her seat, she noticed Gaara wasn't back yet.

"Where is he?" she thought worried, "Hope he'll arrive soon or he's going to get in trouble."

She started with her class work quietly.

You're late," Tetsumari heard Karuke-sensei scold, but she didn't bother to look up to see who he was talking to. She just knew that whoever it was, they were going to get in big trouble.

"Sorry," a boy apologized.

"It's okay, go to your seat." Tetsumari then heard the boy's footstep walking towards her.

"Tetsumari…" he whispered to her. She looked up and realized that it was Gaara.

"Gaara, where were you?" Tetsumari whispered back.

"Oh it's just something... do you want me to walk you home today?"

"Of course," Gaara came to sit down next to her in his seat. When class was finished, they both walked out together towards Tetsumari's house.

"So what were you doing Gaara?" Tetsumari questioned without looking at him, she just kept walking forward.

"You'll see when you get home," Gaara teased a bit.

"Fine!" After awhile, they finally reached Tetsumari's home.

"We're home," Tetsumari confirmed to Granny than turned to look Gaara, "Would you like to stay for a little while longer and eat with Granny and I again?"

"Okay," he said and walked in.

"We?" Granny asked on her way walking to the door.

"Yes, Gaara's here again. He's staying for dinner." Tetsumari replied while Granny finally reached the door.

"Oh hey! Back so soon?" Granny was talking to Gaara.

"Hi Granny," Gaara greeted politely, "I came to _you know_."

Gaara winked at her and Granny winked back. Tetsumari thought they were acting weird, but she didn't bother to ask. Granny left the two kids alone as they walked towards Tetsumari's room.

"Before you go in your room, close your eyes," Gaara commanded.

"Huh?" Tetsumari was confused.

"Just do it," Tetsumari did while Gaara slowly and gently grabbed her and guide her to her room.

"Open your eyes and look down!" Gaara yelled excitedly. Tetsumari opened her eyes and looked down on her futon.

"Gaara… it's your teddy bear!"

"That's not all of it," Gaara held the teddy bear up closer to her. Tetsumari noticed something around its neck. Gaara took it off and placed the bear back on the futon. The thing around the bear's neck turned out to be a bracelet.

"It's beautiful!" Tetsumari cried looking at it while Gaara put it on her hand for her. The bracelet had a stone that colors matched her shiny purple eyes when it shines in the light.

"It's a gift for the tiger eye necklace you gave me."

"Thanks so much, is this why you were late and busy for lunch?"

"Yeah," Gaara gave her a smile and turned away before he blushed. Tetsumari saw this and gave him a hug along with a peck on the same spot of his forehead.

"Do you like the bracelet?" he asked her.

"Yes! Of course I love it!" Tetsumari was looking at the bracelet, "Thanks again and also thanks for the teddy bear. It reminds me of you."

They end up talking the whole time until dinner.

"Tetsumari! Gaara! Come out for dinner!" Granny cried out from the kitchen.

"Coming!" They both said and headed out to the kitchen and sat down in their seats along with Granny.

"Hey you two!" she said happily as always, "I made something special for us to eat after we finish so don't stuff yourself completely."

"Okay," they said and ate their food.

"Oh that's a beautiful bracelet Tetsumari, where'd you get it?" Granny winked at Gaara again, Tetsumari noticed this and knew that Granny had known all along.

"Oh," Tetsumari blushed, "Gaara got it for me."

"Oh, it looks lovely. You have good taste Gaara," she said towards Gaara.

"Thanks," When they were done eating, Granny surprised them with a cake that she baked for them.

"Mmm, that smells good!" Tetsumari said sniffing the air. Granny sliced a piece for each one of them.

"And it tastes good too!" Gaara said as he took a bite, "I've never tasted anything like this before!"

Tetsumari and Granny laughed. When they finished eating, Tetsumari helped clean up and washed the dishes while Granny and Gaara talked again.

As it was getting late, Granny went to sleep while Gaara and Tetsumari went up on the roof to talk. They sat quietly for awhile just looking away from each other.

"Gaara," Tetsumari sigh, "What's bothering you lately? I know something is."

"Do you love me?" Gaara questioned.

"Huh?" Tetsumari was shocked.

"Do you?" Tetsumari thought a bit.

"Of course I do… why do you ask?"

"I've been thinking about what Yashamaru said."

_[Flashback]_

Yashamaru is talking with Gaara in the room with Tetsumari. It was the day Yashamaru explained to them the meaning of love and the day he had tried to kill Gaara, but died.

"There's one thing that could heal the pain of the heart…" Yashamaru said, "…You can only get it from another person like Tetsumari for example…Love"

[End Flashback]

"Oh," Tetsumari said looking away.

"Just somehow… when I'm with you and when you hug me or even just smile at me… my pain goes away, but when you're not here… the pain is unbearable…" Gaara sighed while Tetsumari was quiet again.

"Gaara…" Tetsumari tried to say.

"I love you too…" Gaara cut her off, "I want to heal your pain too, the one I see deep in your eyes every time I look. I want to protect you like how my mom (the sand) protects me."

"Silly Gaara," Tetsumari smiled and went over to Gaara to give him a hug and kiss on the forehead.

"I promise I will, with my life," Gaara whispered to her as she was kissing him.

"I will too," Tetsumari whispered back. She laid her shoulder as he continue to sit there staring up at the dark sky. Gaara kept replaying the memories of his uncle.

_[Flashback]_

"…Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important to you; it's expressed by caring and protecting that person just like my sister. I believe she had always loved you and that she's the sand that protects you out of love…" Gaara heard Yashamaru say in his head.

[End Flashback]

"Mother…" Gaara said sighing quietly.


	11. Chapter 10 I Promise

I Promise  
Chapter 10

About a year has passed by already. Gaara and Tetsumari were now 7 and inseparable. They've become closer and usually helped each other train to get better. Both of them are now able to do a couple of basic ninjutsu with sand. They would practice it together every day, but when they aren't, Tetsumari would be with Granny learning some more medical techniques or practicing with her bow and arrows making up some of her own ninjutsus with it now that she learned more about it in academy school.

"Boy am I tired!" Tetsumari exclaimed with a long sigh, she lay down and rest for awhile. Tetsumari was training with Gaara again that day.

"Me too," Gaara said lying next to her tiredly. Tetsumari was talking to Gaara while they were lying down, but he was dozing off about Yashamaru. It has always been bothering him since the past year that went by.

_[Flashback]_

The time after Gaara's sand attacked Yashamaru who was masked at the time. Gaara bent over and reached for the masked to reveal his face.

"Gaara…" Yashamaru said softly.

"Yashamaru why did you do this…" Gaara cried.

"It was an order. I was sent by the Kazekage to assassinate you…"

"So that means you just did it unwillingly because he ordered you to, right Yashamaru?"

"No, he gave me a choice…"

"Huh? What do you mean…?"

"Gaara… I've always hated you… hate you for taking my beloved sister away from me…"

[End Flashback]  


Gaara?" Tetsumari called out, "Are you there?"

Tetsumari's giggles caused Gaara to stop thinking about the past and realize that he was still there with Tetsumari.

"Oh sorry…" he tried smiling a little.

"Its okay," Tetsumari replied and looked away, "You're so unpredictable sometimes Gaara…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"One minute you're happy, the next you're all serious," Tetsumari gave him a small smile back," It's okay though. Let's go inside and eat now."

"Oh okay," Gaara and Tetsumari walked to the kitchen where Granny was waiting. For the past year, Gaara has been staying with Granny and Tetsumari. He stayed to help Granny out and also be there to watch over Tetsumari.

"Hey Granny," Tetsumari greeted as Gaara and her walked into the kitchen.

"Hey you two had a good training?"

"Yes, sort of."

"You guys must be starving then." Granny handed them their bowls of rice," Eat up!"

"Thanks," they both thanked Granny and ate their food. Gaara finished his bowl first and asked to be excuse.

"Tetsumari, I'm going to be in your room to wash up okay?" Gaara stood up and placed his bowl and chopsticks in the sink.

"Okay, see you Gaara."

"Bye Granny, bye Tetsumari."

"Bye dear," Granny said as Gaara left to Tetsumari's room. He was still replaying those memories that were forever stuck in his head.

"Is this how it's going to be from now on…" Gaara wondered madly," Are people going to keep going after me to kill me!?"

Gaara sighed and walked into the bathroom to wash his face. There has been numerous of times that he has been attacked, but he just doesn't want to tell Tetsumari or she'll get worried. However, it's also beginning to make him worry that Tetsumari might get involved in it soon if his attackers find out how close she is to him.

"Is there something wrong?" Granny asked Tetsumari.

"With Gaara?"

"Yeah…"

"I don't know he's so different sometimes."

"Oh why don't you go talk to him right now? I'll do the dishes for you today."

"Okay thanks Granny," Tetsumari said and walked towards her room. Gaara had just walked out of the bathroom and haven't noticed Tetsumari yet.

"Gaara…" Tetsumari said. Gaara was startled, but turned around to see Tetsumari.

"Tetsumari?"

"Yeah, who else would it be," she smiled, but as she walked towards Gaara sadness took over, "What's going on with you? It's making me worried…"

"I've just been thinking a lot," he said looking away from her. Before Tetsumari could say anymore, Granny interrupted them.

"Sorry for bothering, but someone's at the door for you Gaara."

"Oh okay, I'm coming," Tetsumari and Gaara followed Granny to the door in silence. The person that came for Gaara turned out to be an ANBU.

"The Kazekage ordered me to come get you. He needs to talk to you." The ANBU stated.

"Okay," Gaara replied and looked at Tetsumari who looked worried, "I'll be okay, don't worry about me."

"Okay… bye…" Tetsumari whispered and gave him a hug and kiss on the forehead.

"I'll be back, I promise" he whispered back and left with the ANBU. Granny closed the door while Tetsumari ran back into her room crying and thinking about why the Kazekage had wanted him.

"Tetsumari…" It was Granny.

"Yes Granny…" Tetsumari said slowly.

"Don't worry too much dear," Granny walked over to Tetsumari and used her hands to brush Tetsumari's hair. Tetsumari calmed down a bit and wiped her tears away.

"I just have a bad feeling that something going to happen."

"Just try not to think about it and rest right now okay? He will come back to you no matter what and you know it, don't worry."

"Okay, thanks for the advice Granny."

"No problem, goodnight Tetsumari."

"Goodnight," Tetsumari gave Granny a warm hug and kiss on the cheek. Granny smiled at her and walked to her own room. When Granny was gone, Tetsumari went up to the roof to relax. She closed her eyes and thought about all the memories she had with Gaara.

Before she knew it, she accidentally fell asleep and had fallen into a dream about her older brother, Moukoshi.

_[Dream]_

"Run Tetsumari, Run!" Moukoshi yelled.

"I don't want to leave you!" Tetsumari yelled. It was the time when her brother had saved her from the guy that tried to kill her.

"Moukoshi!" she yelled once more as her brother began to seem farther and farther away, "Moukoshi! Don't go! Don't leave me! Moukoshi!"

"Tetsumari…"

[End Dream]  


"Tetsumari! Wake up!" it was Gaara who was trying to wake her up and calm her down.

"Gaara?" Tetsumari said confused when she sat up.

"You shouldn't be sleeping out her, let's get inside," Gaara helped Tetsumari stand up.

"So what happened earlier? Are you okay?" Gaara asked.

"Oh I was just having a bad dream. What happened with the talk with the Kazekage?"

"It was nothing, he just asked me questions."

"Oh," they finally reached Tetsumari's room and went to sit down by each other on her futon.

"Why did he really want you to come Gaara?" Gaara was quiet for a minute.

"He wants me to go to war with him against another village."

"What! You can't! You're only 7 after all."

"I have to… I'm just a special trump card for this village." Gaara said coldly, Tetsumari was the one who was quiet now.

"When are you leaving?" she said softly.

"Right now."

"Why so soon…"

"I don't know," Tetsumari looked away so Gaara wouldn't see her cry. Just then, Gaara held out a rose made from sand, but slowly as the sand fell down, a beautiful bright red rose appeared. Tetsumari looked at Gaara.

"For you…" he said handing it to her.

"Gaara!" she cried on him, "Thanks, but will you be okay?"

"I promise I'll be back for you, take care Tetsumari, " He was now the one to kiss her on the forehead.

"Gaara…" Tetsumari wanted to try to persuade him to stay some more, but was knocked unconscious.

"I'm sorry… I didn't want you to slow me down… I love you…" Gaara made sure Tetsumari looked comfy on the bed and also left the rose he gave her next to the futon. When he was satisfy he looked at her one last time and walked away.


	12. Chapter 11 Changed

Changed  
Chapter 11

Tetsumari woke up the next day and saw the rose Gaara had given her from the night before lying near the teddy bear he had given her the previous year that was always close to her.

"Gaara…" she thought solemnly, "I hope you're okay…"

Tetsumari got off her futon and placed the rose in a vase with cold water in it. She then went to go wash up her face and changed to meet Granny in the kitchen for breakfast.

"Hey dear! Did Gaara come back?" Granny asked.

"Yeah… but he had to leave again…"

"Why?"

"He had to go to war ..."

"What?! Are they crazy! He's only 7!"

"I know…" Tetsumari looked down at her food and tried to eat some, but failed to, "Those people don't care about anything more than themselves…"

"Cheer up, he'll be back soon," Granny continued to eat her food.

"Be back soon Gaara… I'll be waiting for you," Tetsumari thought to herself.

A year has passed by and Gaara still hasn't come back yet. Tetsumari has been spending most of her time training by herself or with Granny. Other times would be spent with Temari and Kankurou like old times.

"Hey Tetsumari, let's go eat," Temari exclaimed.

"Okay," Tetsumari was out with Temari and Kankurou again after academy school like always. She was still feeling miserable that Gaara hasn't come back yet; Tetsumari just wished that she could at least know if he was alright or not.

"She's been acting so down since Gaara left," Kankurou whispered to Temari.

"Shh!" Temari whispered back noticing that Tetsumari was walking away now, "Don't say anything about Gaara or she's going to get worse!"

"Okay!" Kankurou snapped back. They caught up to Tetsumari and tried to cheer up. Soon, they were turning the corner to where the restaurant they usually eat was at.

"What would you like?" A waitress asked as they took their seats. Temari, Kankurou, and Tetsumari ordered. When the waitress had left, Temari eyed for Kankurou to leave them alone for awhile so she could talk to her.

"Be right back, I need to use the restroom real quickly," Kankurou said with a smile as he walked towards the men's room. Now, it was just Temari and Tetsumari who was quiet for awhile.

"You okay Tetsumari…" Temari asked, "I'm worried about you."

"Yeah… It's just, so different without having him around anymore and even if it was going to take another year I'd wait, but I just want to know if he's okay or not… I miss him…" Tetsumari spilled everything out to her best friend.

"I'm sure he's okay and that he'll be back soon so don't worry about it."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's my brother and also because he will for you; he'll do anything for you." Temari smiled at Tetsumari who was feeling better.

"Thanks Temari," Kankurou came back from the restroom and walked over to their tables. They talked for a little, but not as much until the food had came out. When they were all full, they paid for their food than split up to head for home. Tetsumari walked home by herself reminiscing all the time she had with Gaara, especially the first time when he first offered to walk her home. She thought about all those days until she got home.

"Hey Granny…" Tetsumari greeted as she walked through the front door.

"Hey dear," Granny said back

"Where are you going?" Tetsumari had noticed that Granny was putting on a coat and was carrying her bag that she usually brought around for missions. It had ointments and all the supplies that she would need,

"One of my good friend is sick so I'm going over to help her. I made dinner already; you'll just need to warm it up than it'll be all good to eat."

"Oh okay, take care." Tetsumari gave her a hug and kiss on the check before she left, "When will you be back?"

"Oh, I don't know, but watch the house okay. Love you dear," Granny smiled at her suspiciously and waved goodbye as she head off.

"Granny's acting strange…" Tetsumari thought and went to the back, outside of the house to train for awhile. After she was too exhausted to move, she lie down thinking about the last time Gaara and her were there, it was also the day Gaara had to leave on that dumb mission.

After she rest up and was finished thinking, she went inside to wash her sweaty body. When Tetsumari was finished and walked out the restroom, she had realized that there was a fresh bright red rose lying on her futon. It was just like the one Gaara had given her the last time she saw him.

"Huh?" Tetsumari wondered confused while picking the rose up to smell it.

"Tetsumari…" she heard a familiar guy's voice calling out to her from behind. Tetsumari could recognize that voice from anywhere and immediately turned around to see Gaara.

"Gaara! Is that really you?" she said running up to him with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Yes, we are finally finished. It took awhile to sign an alliance treaty."

"Oh… are you okay though?"

"Yes."

"I'm so glad you're back," Tetsumari smiled up at Gaara, but when she looked at him, she noticed that something was different about his eyes they looked cold and scary. Tetsumari backed away from him and looked away, but didn't want to say anything.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come back any sooner," Gaara apologized.

"It's okay…" Tetsumari went to put the rose where the other rose Gaara gave her was, "You must be hungry, let's go eat."

"Okay," Gaara followed her.

"Granny's not here right now, so it's just you and me," Tetsumari said as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, she's helping all the other men that were injured."

"What, she told me…" Tetsumari now understood why Granny was acting weird; it was because she had known all along, "Oh never mind."

Tetsumari heated up the food and set the table then sat down to observe how much Gaara has changed. Tetsumari could feel his eyes looking at how much she had changed also. It has only been a year and they were now 8, but they still had changed quite a lot.

"I missed you a lot Gaara…" Tetsumari said.

"I did too…" Gaara gave her a smile, but it wasn't the same. It was even more different than the smiles he use to give her after the incident with Yashamaru. When they finished eating, they both went up to the roof to reminisce old times.

"I'm glad you're back," Tetsumari said again.

"It was a promise after all. Remember, I promised I'll be back for you. That was the only thing that motivated me during the bloodshed," Gaara got closer to Tetsumari to let her lay her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks Gaara," she said turning around to give him a hug and kiss on the forehead. Soon, she fell asleep so Gaara took her to her room and laid her down on her futon.

Couple months had passed by and it seemed that Gaara had gotten more and more over protected. One day, they both went out to have a walk around the village.

"Hey! Watch it punk!" A drunken guy yelled after he bumped into Tetsumari and pushed her down than mumbled to himself, "Kids these days…"

Before the guy could walk away, Gaara stopped him with his sand that was wrapped around his legs.

"Gaara!" he yelled almost crying, but Gaara didn't care and continued with his move.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He screamed, Gaara just gave him an evil smirk. Tetsumari got up and hung on Gaara.

"Stop it Gaara! It's okay, please stop!" Tetsumari yelled holding onto him, but it was too late, the guy was crushed and killed.

"He deserved it," Gaara said coldly and walked away after Tetsumari had let go of him. They began to walk back to Tetsumari's house.

"Gaara…" Tetsumari said breaking the long silence.

"Yeah?" Gaara replied not even looking.

"Why did you do that for?" she asked angrily.

"It was his fault," he said plainly.

"It wasn't that bad though!"

"I made you a promise Tetsumari…"

"I know, but I can watch myself too, you don't always have to be there for me. I know you want to keep me safe, but you take it too far sometimes Gaara… and it scares me…" Tetsumari looked down and stopped in front of the door. Gaara stopped too and looked at her.

"You're different now…" she said and walked inside not even bothering to look up at him. Gaara followed her inside as she walked towards the back where they train. Tetsumari tried to take out all her anger and sadness out as she trained while Gaara watched her.

"You know… you use to always smile and laugh when we hang out, but ever since you came back, I never see you do that anymore… You're always serious now…" Tetsumari said letting her back face Gaara. Hot stream of tears began to roll down her face.

"I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean it'll stop me from protecting you," Gaara stated.

"Yeah, but can you just listen to me sometimes," Tetsumari cried. Tears were pouring even more out of her eyes. Gaara walked over to face her.

"Can you?" Tetsumari repeated softly.

"Okay," he replied. Tetsumari smiled and hugged him than gave him a burning soft kiss on the lips that had surprised them both of them.

"Thanks Gaara…" she whispered, "I love you…"

"I love you too…" Gaara hugged her tighter never wanting to let go under the beautiful night.

**Author's Note: **Well there will be some changes in this story, I'm thinking about changing the names and the ending of if a little. So sorry if you get confused when I put up Part II just bare with me " I realized that some of the names didn't make sense so I had to change it. And by the way, the next part; Part II: Our Separte Paths, will be up as soon as I finish changing some things up in here. My appologies for not changing everything before I posted it up. Thank you, enjoy and review!


End file.
